The Fire Within
by Siegrain
Summary: When Zeref's concern about whether or not Natsu is capable of ending his life proves to be true, he unleashes a chain of unexpected events, in hopes that through them, Natsu acquires the ancient power necessary to do so—the "Fire Within". RE-WRITTEN!
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. ALL RIGHTS GO TO HIRO MASHIMA. Please do not use any of my original characters without my consent. **Thank you.

**A/N:** Hello, and welcome to The Fire Within! This story has been undergoing some intense renovation, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless.

I kindly ask you to send in feedback for the rewritten version, or if you haven't read it before then just leave anything you'd like. Fair criticism is openly welcome in this story, and hopefully I will be able to improve after reading your thoughts on it.

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><p><strong>Warnings<strong>

*There is no severe swearing in this story.

*There is no severe romance in this story (holy shounen).

*Pairings have been changed, but will not be revealed.

*This is my continuation of the canon after the Grimoire Heart Arc, and is in no way involved with the canon storyline thereafter.

*Prologue is short.

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><p><strong>The Fire Within<strong>

**Prologue**

Have you ever thought—even just for a moment—that there might be another world out there? Perhaps, a world filled with… magic?

Where magic is traded like a commodity on a daily basis, and is used in the lives of the world's people?

Indeed, there is such a world; it is a peaceful world, and a wonderful place to live. Every day is like an adventure with discoveries to be made, and it is filled with endless possibilities. There are mild struggles from time-to-time, but they are nothing so terrible that they cannot be mended with a few simple words.

However, it was not always so.

Long ago, there was strife, horror, and despair. The world—Earthland—was dark, and the people were seemingly dead to the world. A great evil rose from the depths of the people's hearts, casting them further and further into the darkness they already possessed.

His name was Zeref—a human mage who had mastered all forces of dark magic. From the ground he rose thousands of demons, single-handedly plunging the world into chaos.

Legions of soldiers, mages, and different races challenged Zeref, hoping to restore the world to its former state. The Fiorian king led the four main forces into battle, hopeful that they would be capable of defeating the great evil.

Despite all of their effort, they faced a crushing defeat.

In a desperate last attempt, a mighty templar—with the aid of a fellow mage—released all of his magical power to cast one final spell, and sealed away the great evil. However, his partner had been lost in the process and many other soldiers had fallen as a price.

For a time, Earthland was peaceful and prospered once again. The land slowly began to recover from the pain that had been inflicted upon it, and many new towns were built—Hargeon, Oak Town, and Magnolia are three of these settlements.

But over time, the humans lost gratitude for all that the olden warriors had done for them, and eventually the great battle became a part of lost history—a Great Blank. The humans became consumed by greed, seeking power and wealth, hurting others if it was necessary.

Sensing the darkness in their hearts, Zeref was released from his seal, called forth by the dark magic he possessed that hungered for the impure hearts of the humans. He roamed the land in a slumbering state, still fully aware of his past actions, yet bearing no ill will in his cleansed heart.

Many seek to acquire Zeref's power, yet Zeref himself did not wish to cause any more conflict or strife. The black mage wished for nothing more than a peaceful era, and for people to continue living happily as they did.

Unable to control the black magic he wielded, Zeref attempted to isolate himself from all civilization by seeking refuge on Tenrou Island.

However, he was found by that which he wanted to avoid—a mage who sought the Magic of One. Zeref knew that such a thing could not be allowed to exist in this world, and so, out of concern for the rest of the human populace, caused the mage and his allies to vanish from the earth.

Zeref did not attempt to explain his reasons for doing this, for he knew that he was the source of all hate and bitterness in the world.

His resolve was to make the humans focus all their hate unto him, so when he was killed the endless cycle of hate would end at last.

He would atone for his sins with his own death.

But there was a flaw to his plan—something he had considered for years; What if the hero of his plot did not possess enough power to end his life? How long could he run away from the world before he would be able to?

When Zeref met the hero at long last, he was shown that his worries had proven to be true; the boy was unable to cause even a scratch upon his cheek.

He was not ready to kill him.

And so, Zeref was forced to continue to wander the earth, waiting for the day his life would end. To this very day, he waits, hoping that death will come to him soon.

_"You're not_ _ready yet, Natsu_…_"_ Zeref leaned against the trunk of a bristly old oak and looked up at the cloudy sky he knew all too well._ "I had hoped you would be capable of erasing my existence, but it seems you haven't acquired it yet…."_

He ran his fingers through the shriveled blades of dry grass at his side—lifeless and unpleasant to the touch. _"Natsu, the day you are able to defeat me… It will be the day you find the Fire Within."_


	2. Chapter 1: Gears in Motion

**AN: **Hurrah, here's the first chapter of the re-write! Please leave some feedback saying which version you like better so far, and thanks for sticking around through my I-can't-make-up-my-mind-on-what-to-do phase. There will be no more editing or re-writes from now on (excluding grammar errors).

I realize that I will probably get flamed by some unhappy readers, but I suppose that's understandable, and I will take these hurtful comments like, as Elfman would say, a MAN!

*hides under desk with a pillow and spare food*

I just didn't want to post it as an entirely new story because, essentially, it is _still_ the same story with the same OCs and stuff—plus, there are already large amounts of people who have alerted to this story and I didn't want to make them have to do all of that stuff all over again :1

I hope you enjoy this new version, and thank you.

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><p><strong>The Fire Within <strong>

**Chapter 1: Gears in Motion**

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><p><em>I am the absence, yet still the essence. I am the existence, yet still oblivious. I am the burning passion, but still as cold as ice.<em>

_I am the darkness which has yet to see the **light**._

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><p><em>Where are they?<em>

The unpleasant screech of nails dragging across scales was all Natsu could hear in his mind as he worked desperately to remove the dark layer that beset his scarf. Even the thought of having the snowy garment stained forevermore as a menacing, unholy onyx made his eyes livid, and his heart seethe with rage.

_Who did this to Igneel's…_

"_Do you hate it?"_

Natsu snapped his head up, hearing the barely audible voice only a few feet away. "You… did this?" he spat, rising up from the ground to challenge the one guilty of vandalizing his scarf.

A solemn figure cloaked in regal robes lay on his back, his head facing the sky. The area around him was empty and grey, enshrining him in a field of nothingness. Draped over his eyes were strands of his black hair, making his expression nearly unreadable had it not been for the downward curve of his lips.

Yielding no reply, Natsu clenched his fists and yelled. "_**ANSWER ME!**_"

"_Isn't it… such a sad and lonely place?"_

At that moment, he realized the world around him was filled with nothing but white as far as the eye could see. It made the entire experience seem… surreal. He vaguely wondered how he had come to be in such an empty place—and more importantly, what exactly _was_ this place?

"_This is the future of this world—devoid of any life…" _the man mused, reaching out to grasp a crippled, dry leaf in his hand. _"It is tragic that all things must come to an end, isn't it?"_

Natsu didn't understand this. "What the hell am I doing here?" he demanded blatantly, not taking his eyes off the stranger. He refused to believe that this land—this empty land—was the future Earthland was headed to. This guy was probably just spouting crap to confuse him—not that he wasn't already confused _enough_.

The man mulled over his thoughts, his lips curving into the long-forgotten ghost of a smile. _"Why are you here? Yes… perhaps it is reasonable for you to wonder such things, Natsu." _

He rested his hands on the ground—well, that is, if all of this white space could be called _ground_—and sat upright, turning his head to look at the pink-haired boy. Natsu hadn't expected this person, who said so many confusing things, to have such gentle—yet lonesome—eyes.

Green met grey as the two stood in the empty world, not even the sound of the softest breeze reaching their ears. Natsu felt as though he should speak, but something bothered him. This man… Something about him was oddly familiar.

_That sickening scent… Who are you?_

The man smiled forlornly and asked, _"Natsu, that scarf is very precious to you. Do you dislike what has happened to it?" _

Natsu clutched the garment around his neck and glared at the man. "Of course I do! Igneel gave me this scarf and I won't let anyone who thinks they can just—"

"_Do you hate what it has become?" _

A frown was Natsu's immediate reply. "What are you sayin'? It's still a scarf… But why'd you have to go and make it black? I liked it the way it was!"

"_Even though it has changed color, the scarf is still the same one you have worn countless times before. It still bears the same scars received through your struggles," _he explained.

The mage looked down at his scarf and pondered the thought; was this really still Igneel's scarf? It was hard to believe that may be true—but it was _black_, for pete's sake! If Igneel had wanted to give him a black scarf, he would have!

"_Although someone of good nature has been forced to change, in the end they will always be that one, same person, despite the wickedness or cruelty they may have displayed," _the man further explained.

Natsu observed the darkened scales that hung loosely around him and lifted the ends of the scarf up to his eyes. Peering closely, he could scarcely make out the dents and scratches that he was familiar with on the surface of the black material. It was true; they were still there. But why was he being told this now?

"You're telling me all of these weird things…" he mumbled absentmindedly, still running his fingers over the rough garment. "I don't know if this is a dream or what, but of course I know something like that!"

The stranger lay in wait, anticipating what Natsu would deduce from his words.

"I know that people change!" Natsu yelled, staring straight at him bravely—fearlessly. "But if there is one thing that doesn't change, it's who they really are. No matter what they do, or the decisions they make…"

He lurched forward. "No matter what, they will still be themselves!"

The man smiled gently, almost as though he was relieved that Natsu understood what he had said, and slowly, the white illusion of the barren world changed into the familiar night setting of Magnolia town; the sakura trees were in full bloom, and the two of them stood atop of Fairy Tail's guild building.

"_Natsu," _he said. There was an almost wistful tone to his voice; Natsu could feel the great sense of longing he had simply by the expression upon his face._ "This world is beautiful. Even if you are full of tears and sadness, you can always open your eyes again and find happiness. In this world, you can do whatever it is you wish to do, and become whatever it is you desire to be."_

He grimaced. _"Yet, even in this beautiful world, I am…"_

And those familiar words were what caused Natsu's memories of the man to resurge. The forlorn and saddened eyes of his were all-too-familiar to the dragon slayer, and with the puzzling nature of his words, he knew that he was not mistaken.

At Tenrou Island, with Evergreen and Elfman during the S-Class Trial. That was the first time he saw _him_. He had that magic—that terrible, destructive magic—that ended the life of all that it came into contact with.

He had told Natsu to run.

"_**ZEREF!"**_

_"Even still… I am happy you understand, Natsu."_

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><p>When Natsu opened his eyes, he realized that he had somehow fallen onto the floor and that his head really <em>hurt<em>—throbbed, even. He also noticed a rather intimidating shadow looming over him, its hands glued to its hips.

What was that dream? Natsu wondered why he was dreaming of the _black mage_ of all people. Was it because he was concerned about whether or not he'd reappear again? Or was it because he was afraid of him? Afraid of how he had caused Master Hades to disappear simply by—

Barely awake, he vaguely heard a familiarly feminine voice yelling, which sounded a lot along the lines of "_Natsu you idiot, this is MY BED—Heck, this is MY ROOM!_"

He blinked. Oh right, he was at Lucy's house! Geez, why'd she have to kick him off the bed like that? He'd _told_ her almost a million times about how much comfier her bed was than his—

—Okay, so she'd told him to buy himself a new one. But why'd he have to spend his own money if he could just use hers? Honestly, Lucy needed to think more deeply about these things!

Sometimes she was just so _weird_.

"Oh, good mornin' Lucy!" a rather muddled Natsu replied, stumbling drunkenly across the room. "Didya make breakfast yet?"

Lucy promptly delivered a "Lucy kick" to his gut, sending him flying across the room and smashing his torso against the wall. Natsu wondered why she never used that kick when she actually _should_—it would save them a lot of time on their requests.

"I told you to stop breaking into my house! I should be pressing charges, you know?" Lucy responded unhappily, placing her hands on her hips.

She continued ranting for nearly ten minutes about how he was always breaking into her house, and breaking her furniture, and sleeping with her in her bed and—wait that sounded just _so_ wrong.

Realizing the implied nature of her words, she then began lamenting about how she'd never be fit to be wed, and how bleak her future would be because of his unbelievable idiocy. By the time she was done with it all, Natsu could be legally declared as half-dead.

"_But I told you… that your house is so much cleaner… than mine…_" he choked, gasping for air through his newly flattened lungs.

"Then clean your own room!" It was impossible to rationalize with this—this _thing_. Honestly, how could someone's logic be so unbelievably flawed?

If things continued going along this path, Natsu knew he would make her seriously annoyed (not that she wasn't already). Resorting to final measures, Natsu turned to her, pouting as best he could. "Clean it for me, Lucy?" he asked, giving her a pleading bow.

For a moment, Lucy almost felt guilty for beating him up. That is, before he added, "…Since you're a maid, right?" in which she instead deciding to send him flying through her window and into the river canal.

"We've already been over and done with that episode!" Natsu heard her yell angrily as he plummeted head-first into the water. "Clean your own room—and _stay out of my house from now on!_"

Natsu rose up from beneath the waves, rather displeased by the rude awakening. A group of the usual Magnolian merchants passed by him in their wooden canoe, and called out to him, asking jokingly if he'd been kicked out of his girlfriend's house again.

"Guess he's off to a rough start," one of the merchants commented, seeing as how the pink-haired teen chose not to reply.

Natsu leapt out of the water and onto the sidewalk, then shook his head, sending droplets of water flying out all around him. Partially dried, he then decided that since he was awake he might as well head over to the guild building and start his day off early.

Oh, wait. Lucy's clock said it was already ten o'clock in the morning. Never mind starting the day early, then.

With a grin plastered across his face, he began his walk through Magnolia Town, greeting the citizens that passed by and barging into any furniture store he could find, checking to see if they had met his demands of lowering their bed prices.

Unfortunately, they hadn't, and they promptly kicked the dragon slayer out of the store, threatening to call law enforcement if he ever set foot in there again. Grinning, he walked away from the store, thinking that since he wasn't even _allowed_ to buy a new bed now, Lucy couldn't object to him using hers.

He strolled along the beige-and-grey cobblestone roads with his arms raised behind his head, admiring how fine that morning was. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Ichiya was soaring rather ungracefully through the sky—

—Wait, Ichiya? In the **SKY**? From the direction Fairy Tail was in?

"_Meeeeen!"_

Natsu quickened his pace and burst into a full sprint, weaving through the morning crowds as fast as he could to reach his guild. He swerved around the corner of the local bookstore, carelessly knocking over a pile of trash cans, and began running furiously after he heard the store owner yelling for him to "get him here!"

As much as he'd have liked to come to a halt as the store owner had kindly suggested, he decided to leap onto the red-and-white canopies of the nearby restaurant and make a daring escape along the window railings.

A few of the brunchers waved at him and suggested that he don't cause too much trouble for Fairy Tail so early in the morning, which he responded to with a toothy grin, exclaiming that he wasn't.

Not even five seconds after he'd said he'd refrain from causing a ruckus, he lost his footing and fell from the railing, through the canopies, and flat onto the sidewalk. He quickly shook his head to snap out of his dazed state, and was about to make a run for it, but…

"Natsu, _what_ the heck were you doing?" a rather bewildered Lucy asked, staring with a rather amused expression at his sorry self.

Natsu quickly grabbed her hand and dashed towards the guild, not even bothering to take a second's pause to answer her question. "Lucy, I just saw that weird perfume guy flying out from our guild!" he explained, zipping around corners and pulling her along as she flew through mid-air.

"_Hieeeee!" _Lucy wailed, desperately missing the comfort of solid, flat ground. Weird perfume guy? Oh, Natsu must have meant Ichiya—that womanizer from Blue Pegasus.

Lucy shivered; that man was just beyond creepy. She was silently thankful for not having to see him when they would arrive at the guild.

"It's fine if you're worried about something like that…" she wailed, tears flying from her eyes. "…_BUT COULD YOU STOP DRAGGING ME? I'M PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF WALKING THERE MYSELF!"_

Natsu grinned. "Sure thing, Lucy!" and let go of the blonde's wrist. She shakily stood up from the ground, the ends of her hair tangled and standing up on end, and attempted to dust herself off.

Noticing her disheveled hair, Natsu burst out into a fit of laughter and pointed at her head, crying, "Lucy, your hair looks just like that rooster from before!" He didn't even know it was possible for someone's hair to stand up so perfectly straight—besides his own, anyway. Oh, Lucy didn't seem to pleased with that comment…

Lucy sat hunched over, sobbing quietly to herself, mourning the loss of her perfect hair. _"Three hours—three hours gone down the drain…" _she sniffed, radiating a gloomy aura.

Natsu gulped as she turned her head, giving him the darkest glare she could manage. Thankfully, he was saved from becoming Lucy's punching bag by the sudden commotion from within Fairy Tail building, which they had both somehow come to stand in front of.

Not missing his chance to escape, Natsu kicked the wooden doors down (oh crap, that was going to cost a lot of jewels to fix) and stomped into the main hall demandingly, screaming at the top of his lungs "WHAT HAPPENED?" attracting a few odd stares as he did so.

"Shut up, firecracker! We're in the middle of something important here!" Gray screamed back equally as loud. He and a Fairy Tail's other guild members, as well as the mages from Blue Pegasus, sat together near the stage, seemingly in the middle of a serious discussion.

Natsu ground his teeth. "What'd ya say, naked snowman?" he retorted, igniting his fists in red flames.

The two mages began throwing fists, ice, fire, tables, and pretty much anything they could get their hands on, forcing some of the more mature mages to seek refuge in another room.

The usually soft-spoken Mirajane furrowed her brows and clutched a heavy, black binder against her chest. She looked uncharacteristically stressed, and even had faint traces of dark circles beneath her eyes, indicating that she had had experienced a very long night before.

She gave the two of them a stern look and said, "Quiet down you two, we're discussing something important right now—and with the members of another guild! At least save your arguing for later, or I'll get mad."

Natsu and Gray immediately backed down, seeing the dangerous aura radiating off of her figure, and sulked away into a corner.

"Droopy-eyes," Natsu muttered under his breath.

"Shut up, squinty," Gray hissed back.

Cana looked up from the barrel of alcohol she'd been chugging and spared the two of them an annoyed glance. Curving her lips up in amusement, she casually reminded the ice mage, "Gray, your clothes…"

Gray looked down at his nude body, which was only armed with a pair of black boxers, and cursed out loud, running through the back doors in a panic. His usual antics evoked a small giggle from Wendy, who'd always thought his stripping habit to be quite humorous and comedic.

Lucy shuffled her way in uncomfortably, seeing how many eyes were on her as she made her way through the crowd to the round of empty chairs upfront. She forced herself to wave politely to the unfamiliar faces—who waved back in response to greet her—and randomly chose a seat to avoid disrupting the meeting any further.

Without notice, the man beside her immediately grasped her hands, and Lucy had to resist a strong urge to initiate one of her "Lucy kicks". Turning her head, she realized that it was none other than a womanizer from the Trimens team—Hibiki Laytis.

Hibiki presented the stellar mage with a kiss on her finger, and purred, "Ah, Lucy, I didn't know we would meet again so soon. It must be fate that has brought us together." He put on his most charming smile and behind him, Eve and Ren fanned a box of multi-colored glitter, producing a sparkling effect to heighten his appearance.

"They're completely in sync," Lisanna remarked, observing the Trimens with fascination.

Lucy smiled awkwardly and retracted her hand. "_R-Really_…" she stuttered, unable to find the words to describe what she _really_ felt about the whole scenario.

She noticed Hibiki wince slightly when she moved his arm, but didn't take it as anything serious, dismissing it as another antic to gain her attention.

"Now, now, Hibiki, don't go flirting with poor little Lucy over there!"

Hibiki, Eve, and Ren obediently sat down in their proper seats and nodded their heads in unison. "Yes, Master Bob!"

The guild master of Blue Pegasus fluttered out from behind the stage using his tiny, white wings, along with Makarov who stood beside him, arms crossed. The two made a rather odd sight—a cross-dressing, overweight adult and a short, jester-like old man.

Gajeel turned his head and stifled a laugh. Levy berated him and gave him a light hit on the head.

"Glad that you made it, Lucy!" Makarov smiled, acknowledging her presence with a nod. He then turned to count how many of his children had managed to make it in time for the unannounced meeting.

Surprisingly, everyone was here. Unsurprisingly, the guild was overwhelmingly full.

Wakaba smoked on his pipe and released a puff of smoke into the air, much to Macao's dislike. The latter of the two glared at the other, mentally telling him that he would most definitely pay for that later.

Wakaba shrugged the glare off and blatantly asked, "Okay, so what's this urgent thing you were starting to tell us about?"

Guild master Bob glided gracefully across the stage humming a cheery tune to himself. "Well, we are very concerned about the recent string of attacks in Fiore—I'm sure you've heard about them by now," he began, staring off into space thoughtfully.

Nearly every week two months prior, a town would be mysteriously attacked, going up in flames. At first, the Fairy Tail members would jokingly blame Natsu for going overboard again, but evidently it wasn't him who was burning down the establishments.

The pyromaniac had quickly become a large concern, and even the Fiorian army had been forced to get involved—however, they had made no progress on the case, and were always lagging behind the attacker, arriving just one day too late.

"What about them?" Evergreen inquired half-heartedly, being much more focused on her nails than the actual meeting.

"A few weeks ago we'd received an unsigned request; it just appeared on our request board without any warning at all," Bob explained. "At first we thought that it might be a prank from one of the guild members, but I'm afraid that just wasn't the case!"

"Being the fool he was, Bob allowed a group of his mages to freely accept the request, seeing as how he thought it was a hoax," Master Makarov continued, taking over for the cross-dresser, who had become rather occupied flirting with his male guild members. "That team of mages didn't return for nearly two weeks, and when they did, they had been severely weakened and burned."

Makarov furrowed his brow in thought and bowed his head. "One of them didn't make it through the night."

"What happened to them?" Natsu demanded, curious to see who had taken up the request.

The Trimens team rose from their seat, keeping their eyes lowered to the floor. "We were the ones who accepted that request," Ren announced. He pulled back his sleeve to reveal a nasty burn, which had blood soaking through the gauze wrapped tightly around his arm.

Hibiki and Eve had similar wounds which all looked equally as painful as the other's, all wrapped and bandaged tightly to prevent the scabs from breaking, and further bleeding.

Lucy gasped and covered her mouth. She stared at the three with wide brown eyes, wondering what exactly they had encountered to be wounded so terribly. It was terrible, unknowingly setting out to face a monster of that caliber.

Hibiki raised his head and flickered his eyes around the room, taking a good look at everyone seated at the meeting. He assessed their expressions of curiosity, wonder, confusion, and sympathy, and took a deep breath. "You might not believe me if I tell you, so I'll show you what exactly we were up against. We didn't even have a chance to beat it."

He snapped his fingers and activated his Archive magic, booting up the system quickly and scrolling through the vast text amounts of glowing yellow text on the screen.

Archive is a caster-type magic which is categorized in the technological field. It allows the user to convert information into magical data, creating a virtual "library" that is shared with other archive users, much like computers and the modern-day internet. Using archive, information can be stored, received, or gathered conveniently.

Despite its usefulness, Archive is a recently developed magic, meaning it is still fairly uncommon.

Hibiki skillfully input a long code using the circular keyboard, bypassing the numerous password restrictions he had placed on the file.

After what had seemed like an eternity of waiting, he revealed an image that could only leave everyone in shock.

Gajeel widened his eyes and clenched his fists. They couldn't be serious. Damn, this wasn't a funny joke at _all_. "Ain't no freakin' way…"

Wendy leaned on the edge of her seat at a loss for words. It couldn't be…

Natsu sprang up from his seat, pointing at the large image with an accusing finger. "That's…! Are you kidding me?" he cried out in disbelief, unable to comprehend exactly how—

Beside Hibiki, Eve nodded seriously to confirm the fact which nearly no one wanted to be true. "That's exactly what it is," he said, gesturing at the large, red beast immersed in flames.

"What has been wreaking havoc across Fiore… is a dragon."

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><p>"A DRAGON?" the mages yelled in unison, gawking at the scaly red monster.<p>

The dragon's eyes shone an impossibly vivid yellow, and its head reared back as a rush of red flames came forth from its maw, the action perfectly captured in the presented image. And, like in the stories of old, a set of large membrane wings spanned from the lizard's back, coupled with a crown of golden horns that decorated its massive head.

Lucy had never believed dragons existed—not even for a second. Sure, Natsu had said he was raised and taught magic by a dragon, but she had never thought it had made sense for a dragon to teach someone magic whose sole purpose was _slaying_ a dragon. Hence, she'd dismissed it as a tall tale.

Yet, here was proof that those monstrous beings really _had_ existed—that they still existed.

_That's a dragon? _she thought, a cold chill streaking down her back. Natsu was raised by something like… THAT? How could you possibly even face such an intimidating creature, let alone _live_ with it?

Contrary to what he'd said, Gajeel was actually interesting in this development. Pantherlily realized this and encouraged him to ask more about it, but Gajeel had just denied any interest in the matter and stubbornly turned away.

"I _knew_ they weren't all gone!" Natsu exclaimed loudly, ogling at the image like a blind man seeing the sun. He paused for a moment. Wait, wasn't there…

That's right—Gildarts had seen another dragon before the S-Class Trail! "Hey, was there a black dragon with it?" he pried, folding his arms across his chest.

Ren widened his eyes in surprise, but shook his head. "No, it was only one. Wait—you're saying there's _another_ dragon out there?"

Gildarts, who had just arrived back at the guild a few days ago, raised his hand and admitted with a cheeky grin, "That would be me."

Makarov lowered his head and closed his eyes in thought. Now there were two dragons running around Fiore, free to do as they pleased—and if he remembered correctly, the black dragon Gildarts had mentioned to him a while ago wasn't a very friendly one. Heck, he'd lost an arm and a leg to that thing (literally), not to mention an organ.

"_Hey, thanks to that lizard, my body's a little lighter now!" _he'd joked, roaring with laughter.

With a frown, Makarov mumbled, "So there are two dragons running amok… At this rate, the Magistrate is going to get involved." He paced back and forth in thought, concern for his children—and the country—scorching through his mind. What could they do? Would they leave matters to the authority?

Bob covered his mouth, faking surprise, and edged closer to the fellow guild master. "Oh Makarov, you don't mean that!" he cried dramatically, playing with the ends of the old man's hat. "Take it back!"

Members of both guilds watched awkwardly as the two old men scuffled and argued with one another on the stage, unknowingly acting out their own little play. "The Grumpy Old Man who Denies the Affections of his Cross-Dressing Lover!" was what Levy decided it would be called.

"No way, no how," Bisca disagreed, waving her hand.

Having enough of fooling around, Bob recomposed himself and looked around the room for three certain mages.

"Now if I remember correctly…" he thought out loud, scanning the faces of a few rather uncomfortable Fairy Tail members. "My Makarov had three little dragon slayers in his guild!"

"Who're you calling yours?" Makarov yelled in protest, lighting Bob's behind on fire with magic. Bob quickly matted the flames down and smiled, not unnerved a bit by the fact that just a second ago his tushie could have been singed by flames.

Bob was probably the weirdest cross-dresser ever produced by the world.

His face lit up once again after spotting Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy in the crowd, and floated down to the closest of the three. He hovered in front of the pink-haired dragon slayer, stretched his cheeks, and exclaimed what a "cute little boy" he was.

Subsequently, everyone in the main hall fell flat on their face. _"Get to the point!"_

Much to Natsu's relief, the pedophile of a guild master released his face, but still maintained his cheerful smile. "My, my, you're all so impatient!" he gushed, shaking his head from side-to-side. "Okay then; if my sources are correct, then it seems as though the dragon's next target will be Magnolia Town!"

Gajeel put on a malicious grin, and chuckled darkly to himself. "Gihihihi… So that's what you guys want, eh?"

Natsu laughed and rolled his shoulders backward, cracking his knuckles as he did. "I think I get what this guy's saying—"

He was interrupted by a bone-crushing hug from Bob, who snuggled against him and squealed, "Makarov, your children are so smart!"

Makarov's brow twitched, but he knew further argument with the guy (was he even still a guy?) would be hopeless. "Natsu, as an S-Class mage, I am giving you my expressed permission to take Gajeel and Wendy on this request," he announced, tossing a roll of parchment to Natsu, who grabbed it greedily from Bob's crushing embrace.

He continue, "If this was a few months ago, I'd have never even thought of asking you to do this—let alone _know_ about it. But Natsu, you've grown quite a bit, and your magical power has certainly increased as well."

"And if you've been taught this dragon-slaying magic, well then, you should be using it for its true purpose!"

The guild master raised his fist into the air and exclaimed, "My children! Put your faith in your brothers and sister! Because they are dragon slayers, they are the only ones who can bring down this threat!"

The crowd of mages cheered the trio on enthusiastically, hopeful that they would somehow be capable of bringing the dragon to a halt, if that was even possible.

Natsu blinked and gawked at Master Makarov. "_What?_ I thought you were just gonna let me go and ask it where Igneel was!"

The sound of face-palms and head-smacking echoed throughout the hall for the rest of that night. Natsu grinned amidst all the chaos around him, and eagerly joined the brawl that ensued afterwards.

And out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn there was a speck of black on his scarf.

* * *

><p>Hunched over in the dark with a plate of strawberry cheesecake, Erza cowered in a corner, shaking uncontrollably as she brought a piece of the sweet up to her mouth.<p>

"Ich-ch-ch-chiya," she stuttered, eyes wide with fear.

_Meeeen…_

* * *

><p><strong>Questions? Comments? Concerns? <strong>

**If so, please leave them in the review panel.**

**Thank you very much for reading (and sticking with) "_The Fire Within"!_**


	3. Chapter 2: Step

**AN: **Greetings everyone, and welcome back. I am here to present yet _another _chapter, and am sorry to keep you waiting so long. (I'm a slow writer /sobs)

Wow, I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am with all the feedback I've been getting on the rewrite! ^7^ Thanks so much for telling me your opinions, I'm so- ahh I'm so glad you like it. TvT

I plan on having some artwork for this fic up later, but I can't make any promises, so keep your eyes peeled!

And a huge thank you to all of my readers, reviewers, favoriters, alerters-I don't think that's a word. Well thank you all you beautiful, beautiful people, I hope you enjoy reading.

* * *

><p><strong>The Fire Within<strong>

**Chapter 2: Step**

* * *

><p><em>You must reach out your hand into the darkness, despite any fear you may have. For only then will you be able to pull the hands of others into the <em>_light__**.**_

_Only you can pull them towards the future._

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I'm doing this," Gajeel spat as he trudged through the halls of Magnolia Middle School. He turned his head to the side and noted a horrendous painting of a green dog, which he subsequently flung an iron needle through.<p>

Natsu, on the other hand, turned to admire every drawing or painting posted on the walls, enthusiastically trying to guess what each one was—though he got the answers wrong most of the time.

His jaw dropped after coming to a disproportionate drawing of a blue cat with a large head and miniature body, and he gaped at the piece of art openly. "Woah!" he exclaimed. "They drew Happy!" He scrutinized the drawing further with wide eyes and continued, "They even got his head just the right size! _Amazing!_"

Gajeel ground his teeth and painfully resisted the strong urge to pound Natsu's head into the wall. Honestly, if that guy made just _one_ more idiotic comment he'd—

"I-I'm sorry…" Wendy apologized, who walked a good five paces in front of the two. She turned around and gave them a sheepish smile, making Gajeel feel quite awkward and Natsu grin, and explained softly, "It's just… If I'm going to be away from school for awhile I have to tell the principal. A-And he won't believe me unless I have people who are legal-aged with me."

Natsu waved his hand dismissively and grinned, "Nah, don't worry about it, Wendy! I've never been to a school before anyway!"

One of the school's rowdier students, who just happened to be passing by, heard the ruckus the three dragon slayers were making in the hallway. Feeling it was his duty as a student to do so, he rudely yelled out, "HEY DUMBASS, DON'T RAISE YOUR VOICE WHEN YOU'RE IN THE SCHOOL!"

Irritated by the fact that the student himself was yelling, Gajeel retorted loudly, fists raised, "DON'T DO IT EITHER THEN, YOU STUPID BRAT!"

One of the wooden classroom doors burst open without notice, hitting Natsu square in the face and rendering him unconscious. A rather unhappy-looking teacher strode out of her classroom, book in hand. She fixed her black-rimmed glasses and noted Gajeel's body piercings, which were as numerous as there was writing on the school building.

Frowning, she yelled sharply, "YOU TOO, YOU DELINQUENT IDIOT! THAT GOES FOR ME AS WELL!" The teacher then returned to her classroom and politely slammed the door shut on the three of them.

Gajeel rubbed the back of his head and cursed under his breath, muttering about how unbelievably obscure and perplexing Wendy's school was.

Wendy shivered and shied away from the door. "_That was… That was my English teacher…" _she cringed, dabbing the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.

"What the hell?" Gajeel mumbled uncomprehendingly. "How do you learn English from a teacher that yells at people for yelling? Stupid…"

Still semi-unconscious, Natsu began to stir, bumbling on about beating up Gray and using Lucy's… bed? Okay, what? Gajeel decided it would be best to wake up the flame-brain for the sake of preserving Wendy's innocence, and gave his head a good iron-dragon-slayer-styled kick.

Natsu immediately shot up from the floor, baffled and confused by what had just made impact with his head. Moving too quickly, he received a dizzying rush of blood into his head, and gripped it with both hands to ease the pain. "Where am I? Is this Lucy's house?" he thought out loud, still not being able to remember what had occurred only a few minutes ago.

Wendy raised both of her hands up defensively as Gajeel threatened to deliver another blow to Natsu's physique. "Please stop, Gajeel!" she whispered loudly. "We'll get kicked out if you do violent things here!"

When Gajeel saw the girl's wide, pleading eyes, he found himself unable to ignore her. Dammit all, was he getting soft? He looked away and muttered, "Whatever," not wanting to succumb to the child's gaze.

The three eventually found their way into the school's main office after a round of Natsu and Gajeel throwing insults, getting yelled at by teachers, and the occasional autograph sessions requested by some of the student mages.

The main office was a surprisingly dull room, unlike the rest of the school. The walls were a dreary white, and the desks an equally dreary combination of black and grey granite. Working diligently with a technological magic system, the school secretary sat behind the desk, not even batting an eye at their arrival.

Wendy walked up to the desk bravely, placing her hands on the surface to gain the woman's attention. "U-Uhm, excuse me?" she asked softly, trying her best to keep her voice leveled.

The secretary nodded automatically, her tied brown locks bobbing in response to the motion, and asked in a plain, bored tone, "Yes, is there something you need?"

Wendy shuffled nervously. "I… Well I'm going to be gone for awhile, so I need to tell the principal—"

"Do you have a parent or guardian with you?" the woman interrupted uninterestedly, her fingers clacking against an old-fashioned keyboard.

Wendy gave her a jerky nod, which somehow gained her attention. The secretary looked over Wendy's shoulder at the rebellious iron mage and the semi-shirtless fire mage standing by the entrance, cocking her eyebrow incredulously when she saw the two, but refrained from commenting.

She cleared her throat and looked back at her magic-computer-screen, wondering how she should proceed in this situation. "Ah, well then…" she croaked, tightening the bind on her hair. "Your full name?"

"W-Wendy Marvell."

The woman nodded and input the name into the computer's search engine. After locating Wendy's information and classroom number, she once again looked up at Natsu and Gajeel, who stood bickering at the door like old women.

Hesitantly, she inquired, "Then you two are Mr. and… Mr. Marvell?" pausing for a moment to retain her composure.

Gajeel nearly did a spit-take, choking on the iron pen he had been snacking on. "_THE HELL, LADY?_"

Natsu somehow understood the implied meaning behind her questioning tone and released a spurt of fire in protest. _"NO WAYYY!" _he screamed, pointing at Gajeel blatantly. "That's not how it is, old lady!"

For once, Gajeel agreed with Natsu and gave the woman a wide-eyed glare. "I'm not on that team—I like women!" He paused, gauging the words he'd just said. "N-No, I mean, I don't like anyone! CRAP, WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS?" he roared in frustration, unable to explain himself.

The woman glared sharply at the two of them, her eyes flashing. "Please do not raise your voice within the school grounds."

Natsu and Gajeel nodded nervously, sensing the dark aura that every female in Earthland radiated when they became irritated. _"Y-Yes…"_

The secretary sighed exasperatedly and settled back into her seat. She then calmly inquired about Natsu and Gajeel's relation to Wendy, and whether either of them were her parents (okay probably not) or guardians.

Natsu grinned widely and unnecessarily exclaimed, "We're her nakama!" to which Gajeel subsequently delivered a punch to his gut, sending him reeling to his feet.

"Guardians," Gajeel hissed vehemently, keeping the pink-head's face against the ground with his foot.

Deciding it would be better to simply ignore the commotion the two dragon slayers were causing, the unnerved secretary simply input the information given into the school system and continued, "And how long will Wendy be absent from school?"

"Give her a week," Gajeel replied, searching the window for something interesting to look at.

Wendy mouthed a "thank you" to Gajeel and gave him a cheerful smile, making him feel awkward, yet strangely pleasant with butterflies in his stomach and—

Gajeel pulled the ends of his hair in frustration. Dammit all to hell!

* * *

><p><em>It's been quite a while…<em>

Zeref ambled through the thick forest underbrush, silently thankful for being able to appreciate for the first time in years the beautiful nature surrounding him. In the distance, he could hear the soothing waves of the roaring tides beyond, as well as the pleasant chatter of songbirds in the trees.

How long had it been since he had been able to withhold his power for such a long stretch of time? And although it fatigued him greatly, in his mind it was well worth it if it meant sparing the lives of others. He would be willing to accept the punishment of suppressing his magic later, when nothing living was near him.

He crouched down beside a small, white flower and traced the smooth contours of its delicate, rounded petals, admiring the pale light reflected when they were turned to face the sun. A small smile came to his face, and his eyes softened to a misty gray. Even something so small and immobile—so vulnerable and weak was capable of living naturally in this world…

And yet, he wasn't.

The flower immediately began to wilt in his hands, and he retracted away quickly for fear of stealing away its life. He grimaced as the dry, brown petals fell one-by-one from the lifeless disk and into the flow of wind. The blades circled and spiraled through the sky in a unified dance, soaring into the lands far away, eager to tell their tales of misfortune to any travelers who might chance upon them.

Once the petals had vanished from sight, he cautiously cupped the root of the flower—the only part that he had managed to save—into his hands, focusing with all his might on suppressing the magic within him that desired to destroy it.

He smiled with a tiny glint of hope and thought; _I'll make you grow again_, _somehow_. He then tucked the tiny stem away into the folds of his burgundy robe; he'd hold onto it until a suitable place for it to take root once again was found.

Deciding he had some time before _it _would discover his whereabouts, Zeref reclined against the trunk of an oak tree and immersed himself in the gentle embrace of the wind. Strands of his ebony hair swayed back and forth across his forehead, and he smiled at the tickling sensation, suppressing a quiet laugh.

Did he really deserve to have this moment of being so carefree?

And then Zeref thought; you began to ponder things frequently after centuries of living. It was something that could simply not be avoided.

He thought back to the war centuries ago; the war which had brought him to realization; the war where he had slaughtered countless numbers of innocent people.

The war in which the world had nearly ended.

He gazed at the forest that enshrined him, and sighed with relief. The world he used to know looked nothing like this; it truly was an empty world. A world of nightmares.

And in his nightmares he stood as he did four-hundred years ago, soaked in crimson with maniacal eyes, laughing hysterically at the carnage surrounding him. The heavy downpour of rain, the broken cry of a distraught woman, and several dark flashes of severed limbs…

Zeref flinched and pushed the thought away in disgust. _That is… not who I am…_

He wanted to forget everything. He wanted a distraction—something to ease his pain, but he knew that was cowardice, as well as selfish. There were people who had suffered a hundredfold more than he had.

Realizing he was thirsty, he redirected his attention and began heading towards the waterfall he'd heard earlier, stepping across the soft, green grass—a surprisingly pleasant feeling for his usually ill-treated feet.

He stepped into a small clearing, and admired the pristine water that came cascading down from a cliff of grey, creating a spray of mist in the water basin by his feet. A few dozen fish were swimming about freely in the small pool, not taking any notice of his presence; they were far too busy enjoying their midday swim to concern themselves with a single human.

Zeref kneeled at the foot of the water and cupped the liquid into his hands, greedily quenching his thirst. He tilted his head back, allowing the streams of cold water to run down his jaw in an effort to cool off.

And then he felt it—the aching feeling in his left palm.

He peered at the little black specks scattered across his skin and noticed the first of the six was pulsing—signaling to him.

He lowered his lids and gazed at the dot, seeing nothing, hearing nothing. The foreboding feeling he knew all too well dawned upon him, and he wordlessly forced his body to rise from the lakebed, gearing to run through the thick mess of trees and vines ahead.

He was careful not to trample over any of the leafy ferns that decorated the ground, nor uproot any of the lively shrubs. He had to _run_; he had to get away.

However, the further he went, the more potent his magic became. As he continued to lose dominance over his power, the land around him slowly began to fade. The songbirds which had been chattering excitedly amongst themselves only a few moments ago fell out of the sky like lifeless stars, uttering not a sound as they met their end.

Zeref clasped his hands over his eyes and clenched his teeth, struggling to hold back the bitter remorse that came flooding into his eyes. _I'm sorry._

And then the surging wave of blackness came over him, clouding his vision and ringing loudly in his ears. He gripped the sides of his head and threw it back in pain, screaming to the heavens for freedom of the feeling. His howls of agony echoed off the hills, startling some of the few remaining creatures, making them turn tail in fear.

_S-Stay away… Just run!_

He doubled over in pain, gritting his teeth to restrain himself as he felt the air being knocked out of his lungs. He gasped to breathe, but to no avail, and was left to spasm in torment against the dirt. The magic continued suffocating him, and he knew it would continue to until he submitted to its will.

Nonetheless, he struggled against it feverously, weakly dragging his body along; clawing his way across the soil with the aid of his right arm. He knew that the power would rein superior over him in the end, but if he could just hold the curse off a little bit longer, at least until he'd gotten far enough away from the forest…

Yet, the death magic did not acknowledge his wishes, and he succumbed to its strength, his body desperately seeking to survive. The moment he could breathe again, a rush of mana came forth from his reserves, exploding outward in an unholy, vengeful circle.

It lasted for an instant, but an instant was all it took. He unwillingly forced his eyes open, his vision still hazy from the immense power surge. Slowly the blurs came into focus, and after making sense of the cloudy mess, the plains of his face immediately contorted into a frown.

_Dead_…

But there was nothing he could do to save what was already gone. He reluctantly ran through the barren wasteland, leaving behind the damage he'd done, the ache in his limbs growing stronger—fiercer. The heat surged through his veins, ushering him to move faster; to flee as fast as he possibly could.

And then _it_ found him.

But the events had already been set into play. There was no stopping them now.

Zeref curled his hands into a fist and furrowed his brow. _I won't allow you to interfere; I will lead you to the ends of the earth, if that is what it takes to keep you apart._

He leapt off the edge of the forest and raced down the cliff face, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. Close behind, an ear-piercing screech resounded through the sky—the perpetrator the owner of the immense, winged shadow that tailed him.

His robbed lashed around him wildly as he gained speed, and the wind whipped his eyes in an attempt to blind him. He forced his lids shut and continued to run blindly, relying only on his sense of hearing. He could hear the beating of wings, the whistle of wind, and…

Heavy realization hit when a set of talons crushed the earth beside him, reducing the land to nothing but an empty, black hole.

It would catch him.

Zeref's eyes narrowed and became a livid red. _No_, that would not happen. He wouldn't allow it.

He thrust out in his hand in front of him and acknowledged the deathly desires of his power, releasing a burst of black mana in spell conjuration. The magic in turn twisted to fulfill his dark desires and re-arranged the properties of the dust clouds to form a layer of thick, black smog, which struck out like a snake and enveloped the beast above him.

His intention was to blind it—even for just a second.

He succeeded.

Knowing _it_ had lost sight of him, he wasted no time in making himself disappear. He ripped across the dry terrain mercilessly, leaving behind an empty tunnel in the sand. Hopefully a storm would cover over the trail; the only thing on his mind at the moment was **run**.

A large, craggy mountain towered above him, seemingly confident that it would succeed in preventing his escape. Zeref narrowed his eyes and crashed through its rocky exterior, reducing its entire backside to nothing but tiny shards of refuse and lacrima. A small thud resounded as the mage took off, whistling through the hidden ridge at blinding speed.

It would not catch him.

The ridge was laden with a hidden trove of crystals and valuable gems; once the townspeople discovered the opening he'd made, there was no doubt they'd take advantage of the resources and use them to prosper.

His lips curved up into a slight smirk. _By destroying I help others… What a pitiful existence I am._

Nonetheless, it was a pleasantly warm feeling, knowing that sometime, somewhere in the future his efforts would aid someone else.

Another ten minutes passed before Zeref felt it was safe to stop for breath. He collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting heavily to regain his breath; it wasn't nearly so much his stamina that made him tired as the adrenaline did.

Fear pushed people to their very limits.

He fell back against a smooth wall of clear quartz, concentrating on nothing else but steadying his breathing. _It's fine… Safe for now… Calm down… Yes…_

Once his breathing returned to normal, he stood from the ground shakily and looked around. He was in an empty cavern—pitch black, with only a few stalagmites and stalactites scattered here and there. It had taken a lot of effort to avoid those, but crashing into them would have been disastrous as the sound would probably attract _its_ attention.

The pulsing feeling in his hand grew progressively stronger, and he knew the first event would take place in just moments.

He sighed one last time and then resumed walking endlessly, continuing further on into the unfathomable darkness of the cavern.

* * *

><p>"Are you really sure you want to dock here? It's not that I'm stopping you, but… Will you really be safe out there?"<p>

Natsu stumbled off the train groggily, holding back yet another round of vomit that threatened to escape through his mouth. He forcibly turned his head and gave the train conductor the toothiest grin he could manage. "W-We'll be going now. Thanks for the—" he paused to gag and cover his mouth. "—ride."

Happy saluted the man and chimed in with Natsu and exclaimed, "Aye! This is where we're heading!"

Awkwardly, the train conductor waved the group off with a "Yeah, take care there…" and returned to his train cart full of outraged passengers.

The trio of dragon slayers took their first step away from the train tracks and into the pale light of the moon, having requested to make a special stop with some "_persuasion" _on Gajeel's part. In the distance, angry red flames coiled upward towards the sky, illuminating the dark of night with a fiery hue and cloaking the stars with a sheet of black smoke.

Charle folded her paws across her chest and scrutinized the flames from afar, her ears twitching in thought. "Is this really what dragons do?" she asked skeptically, thinking that Wendy's farfetched tales of being raised by a dragon were now a little bit more unbelievable.

Perched on Gajeel's head, Pantherlily took in the violent landscape, and realized he had seen something like this before. Of course, it wasn't to this extent.

It had been _worse_.

"I've witnessed a similar scene in Edolas… Of course, I was barely past the age of a kitten, but I don't think I could ever forget something so drastic," he mumbled under his breath, a flashback of flames and the beat of massive wings flooding his mind.

Gajeel blinked. Pantherlily as a kitten? _**CUTE**__._

Happy turned his head at this, eyes wide with surprise. "There were dragons in Edolas?"

Pantherlily nodded absentmindedly. "Edolas was a world of magic as well… It's only natural for there to be dragons, but there have been no sightings of them for well over ten years." Another outburst of flames on the horizon caught his attention, incidentally breaking his train of thought.

The fire began to spread rapidly, burning a wider range of trees to the ground. Natsu realized that if things continued along this path, the fire would reach Magnolia in a mere few hours. And if it managed to reach the town before they could put an end to it, then all of those innocent citizens would be—

No, they had already begun evacuation procedures. The worst that could happen was the entire city being reduced to nothing but ash—

Okay, that was pretty bad too—especially for their guild building. Would they have enough jewels to rebuild it?

Wendy leaned over the cliff's edge curiously, surveying the valley of trees below. _Pines_. Of all the trees in the world, they just had to be _pines_. Why not a nice comfy bush, or a patch of clover? Really, she wasn't too keen on leaping into a bed of spiky _pine_ needles.

Wendy did _not_ like pines. She'd had a rather… _negative_ experience with them (which shall not be mentioned at this time).

A finger hooked itself in her collar pulled her away from the rocky terrace. Surprised by the action, she looked up to see Gajeel staring down at her intently.

"Don't lean over that much, kid. You'll fall, and I ain't comin' to save ya then," he said firmly, releasing his grip on her petite frame.

It was surprising to think that Gajeel—solitary, intimidating Gajeel—actually gave a tick about a little kid. To think that he'd actually put some effort into preventing an accident was… actually, it was kind of unsettling.

Wendy smiled sheepishly and looked down. When she thought about it, he was a bit like a fatherly figure to her, albeit the random cursing at the end of his sentences—but she knew that was just out of habit. Natsu was more like a brother; he wasn't mature enough to be parent-like yet.

She gave Gajeel a jerky nod and returned to staring at the sea of flames, wondering exactly how long it would take them to reach the mountain they originated from. Luckily, they had Happy, Charle, and Pantherlily with them, meaning the option of flying was available to them.

And obviously flying was a necessary asset; what kind of dragon slayers would they be if they thought the dragon would restrain itself to the ground simply to play _fair?_

If she casted Vernier, the flight would take a half hour at most, the downside being she could only maintain the support spell for a short while.

Natsu cracked his fists and grinned widely, his entire physique alight with fiery, orange flames. "What're we just standing around for? There's a dragon that needs to be taught a lesson… And I'm not gonna let him just make fun of Igneel like that, **COPYIN' HIS LOOK AND STUFF!**" he yelled, hoping he'd made it loud enough for the dragon to hear.

No response.

Happy gaped up at the dragon slayer like a fish—irony at its best. "Natsu, that's what Igneel looks like?" he shrieked, clasping his paws against in cheeks dramatically.

Charle rolled her eyes and sniffed. "Oh save it, Happy."

"She said my name!"

Natsu shook his head sharply and frowned. "Well Igneel is ten times awesomer, but this dragon _does_ look a little like him. The fire's smell is all off, though." He crinkled his nose and fanned the air around him away. "It's _GROSSS! _Igneel's fire is so much better_…_"

Gajeel cocked an eyebrow at the lecture, strongly feeling the urge to give the flower-haired-boy a good kick. He wasn't too keen on listening to a one hour story about the taste difference between "gourmet fire" and "regular fire"—like that made any sense at all.

Fire was fire—it burned, it stank, and it should be put out right away. Like Natsu.

Gajeel smirked and cackled under his breath. "Gihihi..."

Pantherlily gave the man an incredulous stare, but ultimately decided to shrug the laugh off, dismissing it as yet another one of Gajeel's malicious thoughts. _Don't want to hear it._

Natsu shuffled with anticipation and edged closer to the edge of the cliff, the threat of falling over increasing every second. Why were they just standing around? Was there some signal they were waiting for?

Unable to wait around any longer, he took a leap of faith and eagerly yelled, "LET'S GO, HAPPY!"

Happy shot up and out from the ground like a hyper bullet, catching his paws on the backside of Natsu's vest just as the dragon slayer was about to make a head-first dive into a welcoming nest of pines. The little blue exceed ferried him through the sky, flapping his feathery white wings as fast as he could.

"Aye sir!"

Gajeel, not wanting to be outdone by the pink-head, made his own spectacular leap, which sent a good chunk of the cliff flying off. Wendy cried out in surprise and rose up her arms defensively—not that it would protect her much. As the boulder neared her, the familiar feeling of weightlessness took her over as Charle lifted her off the ground, helping her to avoid being crushed by the rock.

Wendy sighed with relief and stammered on the brink of fearful tears, "T-Thank you, Charle…"

"You really are too weak for your own good," Charle scoffed, looking up at the towering mountain straight ahead.

"S-Sorry…"

"Catch me, my cat!" Gajeel called out as he tumbled rather ungracefully through the sky. Pantherlily gave the man a "you-can't-be-serious" kind of expression, and folded his arms disapprovingly across his chest, frowning immensely.

"_LILLYYYY!"_

"This guild…" Pantherlily grumbled, reluctantly spreading his wings and taking off after Gajeel. He rose the foolish mage up from the within the abysmal depths of needles, not commenting on the branches and twigs which had managed to embed themselves inside his thick mane of black hair.

"Why didn't you catch me, Lily?" Gajeel sobbed, his heart churning with betrayal.

Pantherlily kept his face smoothly devoid of expression. "Sorry, I thought you were just going with the flow." _The flow of making suicidal leaps off cliffs and waiting to be saved by a magical flying cat_. Geez, he wasn't Gajeel's slave—or cat! He was a guild member.

_**GUILD MEMBER.**_

Natsu yelled incomprehensible insults at the blazing mountain, also screaming demands that the beast tell him where Igneel had gone. Happy looked on nervously and commented that it was unlikely the raging dragon would answer him, but Natsu simply chose _not_ to hear that.

Wendy waved her arms in an effort to gain the attention of the older dragon slayers and shouted in a panicky tone, "W-Wait! Vernier! Vernier! Natsu, Gajeel!" She attempted to distribute the speed-enhancement spell amongst them, but the two of them were just a little too far out of her range.

Charle shook her head and mumbled, "_Idiots_," then promptly increased her flight speed. She resisted the urge to shield her eyes as they came within the range of the forest fire.

It was _hot_—though Natsu seemed to actually be enjoying it, save for the fact that he was making a big deal of shielding his nose.

"_THIS FIRE STINKS __**REALLY**__ BAD— I THINK MY NOSE JUST FELL OFF!"_

"Natsu, if your nose fell off you wouldn't be able to smell anything," Happy said.

Natsu's eyes widened in realization, and he smacked his fist against his palm after experiencing enlightenment. "Hey, you're right! Why won't my nose just fall off, then? That'd make things so much easier!"

"I wish your nose would just fall off, dumbass!" Gajeel roared, shaking fists from Pantherlily's grasp. He choked back the words he'd just said after he and his exceed entered the range of fire, realizing that the flames did, in fact, smell abnormally _worse _than the typical household candle's.

He held back a cough and clasped his hands tightly over his mouth. It was almost like they were breathing poison gas; the air was almost suffocating to him, and Wendy also seemed to be having a difficult time handling it as well. Chains of coughs escaped her throat, and she covered her nose with a sleeve in an effort to block the putrid scent.

"C-Charle… Are you going to be okay?" she asked concernedly, clamping her eyes shut to keep them from watering under the smoke's intense heat.

Charle winced, but made no other complaint. "I'm fine. If we can't make it through the forest fire, then there's no way we'd have any chance against a dragon."

Wendy nodded in agreement. "I guess that's probably true…"

Natsu turned back and grinned widely at the two dragon slayers and exceed. "We're almost there, so just hold out a little bit longer!" He whipped his head around to face the mountain and exclaimed at the top of his lungs, "ALL RIGHT! I'M ALL FIRED UP!"

"WE DON'T NEED YOU FIRING UP WITH ALL THESE DAMN FLAMES AROUND!" Gajeel spat angrily, because frankly, that catchphrase of Natsu's just annoyed the heck out of him. Sure, he'd say it, but then he'd go and get himself all beat up, so what was the point in that?

"C-Calm down, Gajeel…" Wendy pleaded, holding up her hands to maintain the peace—that is, if there was any peace to be maintained in the first place.

She looked on as the two of them bickered and argued with one another, much to the dislike of the exceed that were carrying them. Occasionally, Pantherlily's brow would twitch in annoyance, and _occasionally_ Happy would sigh after not knowing what else to say.

Even if they were going off to battle, everyone still acted the same—rambunctious, expressive, and _loud_. Wendy smiled. "This is… the best guild."

* * *

><p>A set of anxious footsteps echoed and resounded off the white marble walls of the hall, swaying the embroidered tapestries that hung from the high ceilings as they passed by. The steps made a turn through the nearest arch, passing through the doorway that lead to a simple, white terrace.<p>

And there _he_ was, just as she'd said he would be. He sat atop the railing, leaning against one of the marble pillars in sleep. His shoulders heaved slowly in time with his steady breathing, and he could hear the man's soft snoring; it was quite comical.

Hearing laughter being suppressed, the man roused from his thoughts of slumber, rolling his head and gazing at him with a set of questioning—yet still drowsy—dark blue eyes.

"Sir, we've pinpointed her location. Her Majesty says that you may go."

The man stared at him blankly with half-lidded eyes, blinking only once in response.

"Ah, but I see you are still napping. I apologize for disturbing you." The man was never in good shape without taking his nap.

The man yawned and, much to the messenger's shock fell off the railing and onto the white tiles of the floor. A dull _thud_ resounded as his head made contact with them, creating a series of small cracks within the stone. He rose from the ground drowsily and rubbed his eyes, then gazed at the messenger with them barely half opened.

"_Oh… Good morning. Forgive me, I'm feeling rather tired…"_

"Sir, it's almost midnight."

The man paused for a moment, but he only did so to yawn. He nodded dismissively and politely turned his back on the man, falling asleep once again. _"Okay."_

* * *

><p>…<em>I didn't know it at the time, but that was when the course of our lives first began to change. <em>

_It would be impossible for any of us to predict the events that would occur in the near future—but that is something I think will be more interesting for you to guess at, rather than having me simply tell you._

_If we knew what would happen during the course of our lives, all the excitement and surprises would be taken away from us instantly._

_So, then, I will start the next part of this tale right from the beginning._

_And the journey starts, right here on this steep, steep mountain..._

* * *

><p><strong>Questions? Comments? Concerns?<strong>

**If so, please leave them in the review panel.**

**Thank you very much for reading (and sticking with) "_The Fire Within"!_**


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